EBay to buy Qoo10 Japan, other assets from Giosis

(Reuters) - EBay Inc (EBAY.O) said on Tuesday it would buy Giosis Pte Ltd’s Japanese business, including the Qoo10 online shopping platform, to expand its presence in Asia’s second-largest economy.

Giosis, which already counts eBay as an investor, operates seven localized online marketplaces in five countries including Japan and Singapore.

U.S.-based eBay said it would relinquish its stake in Giosis’ non-Japanese businesses.

Devin Wenig, eBay’s chief executive officer, said in an interview with Reuters the company expects significant growth in Japan, already the world’s third-largest e-commerce market.

“There is this perfect convergence of growing wealth and technology adoption,” Wenig said. “We think there’s a lot of runway.”

The deal will bring eBay’s technology and its worldwide sellers to Qoo10’s base of 2 million shoppers, mirroring its play book in South Korea nearly a decade ago, Wenig said.

“We’re going to bring the world’s inventory into Japan,” he said.

Wenig declined to disclose the terms of the deal, valued at close to $700 million according to a Bloomberg report.

EBay has modified its platforms, including its namesake shopping service, to include grouped listings and a simpler payment process to lure shoppers amid stiff competition from Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

Shares in eBay are up about 14 percent this year.

Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel